Paint and lacquer compositions typically include colorant particles dispersed in a resinous binder. In addition, those products may comprise further auxiliaries, more particularly active ingredients providing for example a fresh smell or protecting the objects, which have been treated with the paints or lacquers, against insects, corrosion and the like. Unfortunately, very often those actives do not show a sufficient stability in the final composition, either since they interfere with other ingredients or they are simply disintegrated by light or water. A simple solution to this problem could be to encapsulate such actives in order to achieve both, a protection of the compounds and their controlled release over a longer period of time. Nevertheless, what one can observe is that well known microcapsules, for example based on gelatine as a matrix, show a strong tendency to increase the viscosity of the paints and lacquers, especially when storage takes place at elevated temperatures, which is definitely unwanted by the customer. Another serious disadvantage is that paints comprising common microcapsules when applied on surface provide films of poor quality, since they show lots of visual defects, like spots and craters, since e.g. the size distribution is not narrow enough and comprise too many particles with large diameters.
The object of the present invention has therefore been to provide a solution to said complex problem and to develop paints and lacquers comprising encapsulated actives which show improved storage stability and exhibit a superior film quality.